According to italian site basketcentral.it Olympiakos is preparing an offer for Kobe Bryant(?!?!) for next summer. The italian site claims that they have information from "inside the club" insinuating that the Angelopoulos brothers will offer the superstar a contract of 60 million dollars for 3 years with an option for the player at the end of each season.

In that contract there will be an incredible list of benefits, a villa in the Mediterranean Sea, pay all the taxes at the expense of the club, to pay the bills for the staff and for a private boat for Kobe Bryant. The article also says that they are planning to form Olympiakos into an NBA style club with a court that fits 15-20 thousand seats and a private jet for the team.

This could be just another rumor in a long list of rumors that circulated around the net this summer and what seems really odd is the timing of it. It is strange for a rumor like that to be released in a time like now when all the leagues have begun. There is no credible reason other than attracting attention.. Only time will tell if there is any validity in it..

I don't see that happening. When all this talk first came up I thought that there might be a chance, but then Kobe flat out said that it was all a joke to him and LeBron. He's the ultimate competitor, and I don't think that he's gonna take off for European obscurity after having climbed back to the top with a team built specifically around him that's ready to take the title year after year for the next 5-7 years.

If he were to take off for Europe when this deal is offered he'd basically be saying, "I know that the Laker management has done everything in their power to rebuild a dynasty from nothing in an unnatural time-span of 4 years time when it normally takes 10 years, and I know that I've put the Laker fanbase in a state of constant "WTF" moments the past 2 off-seasons(particularly last year's), but thanks but no thanks....I'm gonna head to Europe to play for a league that is nothing compared to the NBA."

LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant was ready for the question, and he didn’t want to hear it.

“Don’t ask me nothing silly,” he said after Lakers practice at Staples Center. Bryant didn’t want to feed the new story that Greek club Olympiacos was gearing up to offer him $60 million over three years after the coming NBA season.

“Next question,” Bryant said flatly.

Two weeks ago Bryant called the idea of him going to Europe for $50 million ” a joke.”

“It’s just something that was a joke for us, and people took it and ran with it or whatever,” Bryant said. “That’s fine. Everybody needs to banter about something.”

He wasn’t in the mood to banter about it on this day, though. Bryant can opt out of his contract at season’s end, but there’s no reason to believe he won’t re-sign with the Lakers as they attempt to re-establish themselves as an NBA dynasty.